Access to Health Insurance

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As Congress considers changes to the Affordable Care Act, it is critically important that lawmakers maintain the patient protections that are so important to cancer patients and survivors, and ensure insurance coverage is truly affordable.  

We can never go back to the day when cancer patients couldn’t get health insurance coverage because they exceeded a lifetime limit or are denied coverage just because they survived cancer.  And, we must ensure they don’t experience any gap in their health insurance coverage and that their policies are truly affordable.

A study conducted by the American Cancer Society showed that people who are uninsured or underinsured are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at its more advanced stages when treatment is more expensive and patients are more likely to die from the disease.

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How has access to affordable, comprehensive health care impacted you?

One of ACS CAN’s top priorities in 2025 and beyond will be to protect critical patient protections in the health care law and maintain access to affordable, quality health coverage. Your story can help. 

Latest Updates

November 6, 2024
National

South Dakota voters on Tuesday passed Amendment F, which would change the state constitution to allow for work requirements to be added to the state’s Medicaid expansion program.

October 21, 2024
National

Today 35 organizations, representing millions of patients with serious health conditions and thousands of health care professionals, filed an amicus curiae, or “friend-of-the-court,” brief in the case of Braidwood v. Becerra at the U.S. Supreme Court.

October 8, 2024
National

Seventy-two percent of cancer patients and survivors support extending the Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits, according to the latest Survivor Views survey released today by ACS CAN.

October 2, 2024
National

Washington, D.C. – October 2, 2024 – Today, patient groups representing millions of individuals with serious diseases and health conditions filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief strongly urging the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota to deny a motion for a stay and preliminary injunction in the case of Kansas v. United States of America .

Access to Health Insurance Resources

Short-term limited duration (STLD) insurance plans do not provide the kind of comprehensive insurance coverage cancer patients need.  These plans were designed only as temporary coverage and are not subject to the same Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements as other health insurance products on the market.  As a result, an enrollee who was attracted to the plan’s lower premiums may find – if they are diagnosed with a serious illness like cancer – that the plan does not cover all of their necessary cancer treatments.  In these cases, the consumer can be left with catastrophic costs.

Many patients with complex diseases like cancer find it difficult to afford their treatments – even when they have health insurance.  Current law establishes a limit on what most private insurance plans can require enrollees to pay in out-of-pocket costs.  These limits protect patients from extremely high costs and are essential to any health care system that works for cancer patients and survivors.

 

High deductible health plans (HDHPs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) are becoming more common in employer-sponsored insurance and the individual and small group markets.  These types of plans have risks and features must be implemented carefully so they do not harm cancer patients, survivors or those at risk for cancer.